Boardgames
by Hershel Greene
Summary: One-shot. Shepard and Tali spend some alone-time playing human games and flirting in his cabin, though they still can't admit their feelings toward one another.


**Note: **This was made as an extension to my other fic, Mass Effect: A New Life. Though you don't have to have read it to know what's going on in this.

It's just something silly and pretty much pointless I decided to slap together. It would serve no real purpose to the main story, so it's going to be here as a little one-shot, though it is in the same fic-universe. It's just a 3000+ word fluffy pillow, hopefully you enjoy it.

Anyway, it's a one-shot, and any review helps, more so than favs do :)

* * *

><p>Shepard and Axell sat on small crates, near engineering, playing their game for several minutes now.<p>

"You cheated! You can't do that!" Axell yelled, shoving his finger at the red and black checkered board on the metal table.

"That's not cheating." Shepard laughed, shoving Axell's finger off the board. "You can jump more than one checker at a time. How do you not know that, given your age, I figured you'd be a pro at this game." Shepard laughed again, taking Axell's red checkers from the table and setting them off to the side.

"Oh, yeah, because I'm old that means I know how to play checkers." He threw his hands in the air, collecting them on his brown sideburns, rubbing at them in angst.

"What are you yelling about?" Tali asked in an annoyed but intrigued voice, walking to the pair of men who sat by their table next to engineering, leaving her post with Adams.

"Shepard just took like... seven of my pieces as prisoners of war!" He yelled, still looking down at the board in shock. He darted his eyes up to Tali, and shook his head. "You play, I'm no good at this." A smile crawled onto his grizzly face, and he gave a wink to Shepard.

_The son-of-a-bitch can't hide it better? I know he knows I like Tali, but does he have to be so damn obvious about it all the time?_ Shepard shifted in his seat-crate, and gave a small smile to Tali.

Tali fiddled with her hands, the same as she always does, and awkwardly looked around. "I don't know how to play though."

Axell pushed by her gently, tapping her on the shoulder, and pointing to the seat he last occupied. "You're a quick learner."

Tali took the seat, and looked down at the pieces and board. She picked up a red checker piece, flipping it in her hands and examining it thoroughly.

Axell winked at Shepard again, and gave him a thumbs up. Shepard glared at the man, and shooed him away with his hands, while Tali was occupied examining the checker.

With Axell gone, no longer provoking Shepard, he was clear to talk with Tali, maybe flirt discretely.

Tali held the red chip high in the air, and brought it down onto the board, flinging it against the checkered template. It bounced around the other pieces, messing up the board and made a loud crashing sound. "Your turn." She said, most likely smiling as she swelled with pride at her achievment.

Shepard burst out into laughter, making Tali furious. "Tali! What the hell did you do! That's not how you play!" He held his stomach as it tightened with his laughter, his face freezing in a wide smile.

"What do you mean?" She asked, her hands resting on her lap, and looking down at the board intrigued.

"You're supposed to place the checkers down one at a time, and make moves to capture other pieces, not just throw it down on the board!" He continued laughing at her.

"Shut up, I didn't know." She grumbled, folding her arms over her chest. "Bosh'tet."

Shepard quieted down, wiping his eyes of the tears that were brought on by the laughter. "Phew... Okay, just do it like this then." He held a smile, though he was quiet now, showing her how to play.

He picked up one of his black pieces, and moved it next to one of her red ones.

"Now you go." He said, leaning back and smiling smug and confidant at his move.

"Can I do... this?" She asked, moving her red piece over his, which was a legal move.

Shepard slapped his hands down on the table, shaking the pieces on the board, he squinted down at it in awe. "How'd you..." He asked, scratching at his head.

"Is it okay?" She asked, a smile barely visible through her visor, her eyes blinking slowly and waiting for an answer.

"Yeah." Shepard said, tossing the piece she captured to her side of the table.

"Awesome! I like winning!" She squealed, clapping her hands together and holding the piece of Shepard's she captured in her hands. She looked up to Shepard and talked to him in a serious tone. "Who's laughing now, hot-shot?"

He rolled his eyes at her, his smile defying his eyes. He noticed a path that she had set up accidentally, a path that would allow him to take all of her pieces. Smiling to himself at this knowledge he made his move.

Clicking the checker over each and every one of Tali's pieces, every click of the checker to the board made her twitch, watching her little checker soldiers die one by one. He had collected all of her pieces, but didn't gloat, instead he let her fall apart.

She looked up to him, her eyes narrowed into two, small, white, glowing slits. She gave a growl to him, sounding like a mutant and mechanical varren. "Come on, Tali... it's just a game." He pleaded, smiling pathetically up at her, piling her pieces to his side of the table.

"This game... is dumb." She ended her feral growl, and stood from the table. "You have any other human games we could play?" She asked, prompting him to stand with her. "Might as well have a bit of fun, considering we'll be in the desolate colds of Noveria soon enough."

He shrugged, standing to his feet and walking to the elevator with her following closely behind. "My brother and I collected a lot of games, most of them are old, but they're all pretty fun."

Opening the elevator, Tali stepped in with him and set their course for his cabin. "In your cabin?" She asked, assuming as she had already clicked the button.

"Yeah." Shepard replied, standing and waiting beside Tali as they began their slow ascent to his room. _This might be a little awkward. _Shepard thought, tapping his foot against the elevator floor as he waited eagerly for the doors to open.

Some music started playing from the elevator's speaker, one of the many speakers that were only connected to the pilot's cabin, Joker's cabin. The beat was slow and meant as 'love music'. Tali looked up to the sound's location, not understanding it's meaning to humans, it's meaning to Joker. "Joker." Shepard grumbled, catching Tali's attention. "Turn it off." Shepard knew Joker could hear him, and would be having a talk with him later about it.

"Oh, sorry. Totally an accident." He chuckled lightly, though it was clearly audible through the speaker. The music ended after a few more chuckles from Joker, and he went silent.

"I don't get it." Tali said, looking to Shepard for an answer.

"Joker's just a lonely man, is all, with nothing better to do. Ignore him." Shepard responded, annoyed with Joker's antics, as he didn't want Tali to feel uncomfortable. _I suppose this means Joker's catching onto my crush as well, or he's just being Joker._

The elevator doors opened to Shepard's cabin hall, so Shepard and Tali quickly made their way inside. Opening the door to Shepard's room, the room Tali had never really been in before.

"You can take a seat on the couch." Shepard said, pointing and nodding to the white 'L' shaped couch. She did as he offered, taking a seat on his couch, looking down at herself, she brushed her cloth away of any dust or distractions that made it look odd and poor. She wanted to look presentable in his room, now that she was alone with him. She tried to sit straight on the soft white couch, straightening her cloth and realigning metal pieces on her clothing to look her best.

Shepard rummaged through his closet, grabbing several board games and other things, piling them up in his arms and walking back to the couch with Tali. She couldn't make herself comfortable, sitting straight and formal around him, she didn't want to upset him somehow, so she remained quiet for a while. "These okay?" He asked, sitting next to her, but keeping an acquaintances distance.

"Sure." She looked down at the games, wondering which ones they'd play.

_What are you doing, John? You've got this girl in your room and your going to play board games with her... You damn idiot. _Shepard argued with himself, trying to bat away the thoughts and pay attention to the task at hand, Tali.

"So, which one do you want to play first?" She asked, picking up a board game with both of her hands, flipping it and reading the title. "What's this?" She asked, handing him the game so he could read the English title.

"Scrabble. Should be fun, wanna try it?" He asked, pushing the other games to the far side of the table, and setting Scrabble in front of them.

"Sure, though I don't know how to play."

"I'll teach you." He simply said, popping open the game, and emptying the chips of lettered pieces. "All you have to do is make a crossword-type-thing, by coming up with words that give you points, and crossing words together."

She nodded slowly, pulling several pieces together. "I'll start... Perfect!" She exclaimed, her voice suggesting she was smiling again.

Shepard looked down to her seven letter word, and read it aloud. "Bosh'tet..."

"Ah-huh." She replied, nodding fast and waiting for permission to continue.

He smiled wide at her child-like innocence, shrugged, and pursed his lips. "It's fine I suppose." He picked letters from his hand, placing them across her word. "Sex." He said, wanting to take it back as soon as he said and placed it. _I'm an idiot!_ His inner-self screamed inside his head.

"Sex?" She asked, looking up to him. "Good one." _Thank God!_ He spoke to himself again, dodging a bullet thankfully. _Wait, good one? Does she know what sex means? Or maybe she just didn't take it the way I did?_ "How about this?" She asked, making another string of letters.

Shepard looked down at it, but it didn't look anything like English. "W-what's that?" He asked, raising a brow to her foreign word.

"It's in Khelish. It means 'to love'." She said, her voice whispering near the end. _It's just a word Shepard, don't read too much into it. Not every person who says love around you instantly means they want you._ He shook off his misunderstanding look, and pushed the game further away.

"Maybe we do something else, since using Khelish is obviously cheating." He snapped at her, smiling at his own accusation.

"I don't cheat, you just suck."

"Oh is that right?" He asked, picking another game out of the pile and sliding it close to them.

"Mm-hmm." She cocked her head at it, considering it wasn't even a board game. It was a multicolored cube, mismatched and having moving parts on it, like a puzzle. "What's that?"

"It's a rubix cube. It's sort of a one person game, so... you try it." He picked it up and tossed it to her, letting her catch it and hold it close.

"I just have to..." She moved one of the slides to match several red colors together. "Oh... I get it. I have to match all of these up." Shepard nodded to her in response.

* * *

><p>It had been at least thirty minutes now, and Shepard was started to fall out of consciousness. He bobbed his head up and down in his tired state, trying to stay awake. His legs were resting on the table in front of him, as he tried to watch Tali next to him, fidgeting with the box. She was fuming with anger, shaking slowly and tweaking a weird way, mumbling something to herself. "You got it yet, Tali?" He asked her, though her eyes didn't leave the cube.<p>

"No! I'm almost done." She said anxiously. Shepard looked to the cube, seeing it worse and more motley than before.

"Maybe we try a different game." He suggested, reaching his hand out for the cube.

Tali swatted it away, and scooted further from him. "No! I can do it!" She speedily turned all of the blocks, until she accidentally broke it into two. "Oh!" She looked to Shepard, her eyes twitching as if she'd cry. Handing the broken thing to him, she looked down to her hands, on her lap and dancing with each other. "I'm... sorry." She admitted, waiting a reprimand from him.

"Oh, Tali." Shepard said, taking the piece and tossing it away. He scooted closer to her, making her look up and increase the pace of her fingers movement. "You don't have to be nervous around me... I'm your friend." He said, placing his hands on hers, making them stop. She couldn't directly feel his skin, though the warmth from him seeped through her gloved hands, and made her feel more calm. She fluttered her eyes and relaxed into his touch, slouching on the couch and feeling a thousand times better.

"Thanks." She cooed, looking up at him and smiling, examining his handsome features vividly. She broke off her stare, and looked to the table. "What other games are there?" She asked, now looking down to their conjoined hands.

"Um..." He cleared his throat and moved for a game, pulling it closer. "Twister." He smiled after he said it, a mischievous and coy smile. _Thank you Richard! Even in death you're looking out for you older brother. Always my wing-man. _Shepard thought, giving a metaphorical and imaginary fist-pump in his mind, glad his brother bought the game a long time ago as a gift.

"How do you play it?" She asked, opening the game and pulling a thin plastic mat out, with multicolored dots covering it's white shiny material. Shepard swiped the mat from her, and laid it out on the floor. _Damn. It looks like I'm about to start some weird ritualistic sex, hopefully she understands what this is for._

"You spin that little pointer there." He pointed to the clock looking board, with several colors on it that matched the mat's. "And whatever color it lands on is the one you put a body part on."

"Oh. I get it. I'll go first." She stood up from the couch, spinning the wheel and walking over to the mat.

She popped several of her joints, stretching her arms and legs to make ready for the game. She bent over to touch her toes, standing at a side view to Shepard, who looked her up and down and stared hungrily. _Oh, come on, there's no way she's accidentally doing that._ Her suit pressed tight against her body, making it easy to estimate what most of her looked like without it. After feeling content with the amount of her he'd scavenged, he looked down to the mat, and let her finish her stretches. _I don't know what she looks like under that suit, but her body... that's enough to make me happy. Of course with a body like that, she has to look okay._

"Okay... red." She said, looking down to the mat and placing a three-toed and armored foot on one of the red circles. "Your turn."

"Got it." He got a blue after spinning, and matched his foot in the appropriate area.

With her next turn Tali got a yellow, but she decided to make it more interesting. She turned around, keeping her back to the yellow, and bent backwards, making a arch with her back and locking a hand on the yellow. "Easy. I'm _very..._ flexible." She moaned once she got into the spot and waited for Shepard._ Damn... very flexible... there's no way she didn't mean that in a sexual way. She has to like me, right? Or at least want to... do stuff... with me._

Shepard felt parts of him twitch, especially on the lower area of his body. _This is going to be tough_. He acknowledged, spinning again and taking his turn.

* * *

><p>After a fair amount of play, their bodies were intertwined and locked in a oddly alien and erotic way. Their sexes would have been touching if not for their clothing. "How do we get out of this now?" Shepard asked her.<p>

"Do we have to?" She asked, making him blink rapidly as a response.

"What?" He asked her back, making her stutter in an uncomfortable tone.

"Um..." She started to explain but was interrupted by a new visitor walking into the room. "Axell!" She screeched, and shoved her body from Shepard, breaking free but probably bruising herself and Shepard in the process.

They both crumbled to the ground, and looked up at their older Alliance crew member. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you guys were doing something." He said, smiling wide at Shepard in particular and trying to leave.

"We weren't!" Shepard exclaimed, standing to his feet and dusting his shirt off with his hands. "It's just a game."

"Yeah!" Tali yelled, after staring at Shepard for a while, contemplating something in her head. "We were just playing a game." She murmured, standing far from Shepard and staring at the floor.

"Really... can I play?" He asked, looking between the two people, and stroking his brown beard as he awaited their answer.

"Sure." Shepard said, nodding and collecting the game in his hands.

"R-really?" Axell stuttered, jerking his head back in surprise. Perhaps he thought Shepard wouldn't want another man playing a game such as that with Tali, but maybe he was wrong.

"Yup. Wrex has been real lonely lately, I'm sure he'd love to spend some quality time with you." Shepard said, patting his older friend on the back, and shoving the game board into his hands. "Come on, Tali." Shepard called to her, smiling and nodding his head to the exit. "We should get ready for Noveria now."

"Coming." She piped up, an excited tone, skipping along the path and out the door, leaving Axell alone with the game in his hands.

"Hmm... Oh well." Axell gave a massive shrug, and walked outside Shepard's cabin, the game with him and his intentions to ask Wrex to play with him. "I'm bored, might as well. What's the worst that could happen..." He played through several scenarios in his head, all of them ending with Wrex crushing him under his weight.

"Axell... did they bang?" Joker's voice played through the intercom over head, giddily laughing again.

"Shut up, Joker."


End file.
